Telemundo Adds Social Media Group

Telemundo announced the launch of its new strategic social media arm to better connect with the growing Hispanic presence on online social networks. Dubbed Social@Telemundo, the new unit will be led by Borja Perez, vice president for digital media and integrated solutions at the Spanish-language media company.

The five-person group will focus on delivering interactive content across key social platforms, like Facebook and Twitter, tied to each of Telemundo's shows and telenovelas. It will also build on efforts like the broadband series "Telemundo Live" by sharing more access to the broadcaster's programming and stars in Spanish and English.

"U.S. Hispanics are incredibly active consumers of social media and are 1.5 times more likely then the general market to be active in this space," stated Peter Blacker, executive vice president of digital media and emerging businesses at Telemundo. He added that traffic to Telemundo's Facebook page had grown seven-fold in the last year and five-fold on Twitter.

There's still a lot of room for growth. Telemundo has drawn about 52,000 fans on Facebook and 90,000 followers on Twitter, just a fraction of the millions of loyalists top brands or celebrities attract on those sites. MTV, for instance, has 13.8 million fans on Facebook.

But Telemundo is counting on the burgeoning Hispanic online audience to fuel its social-media efforts in the months and years ahead. It cited comScore data showing 29 million U.S. Hispanics outline, with growth outpacing the general population by 50%.

Latinos are also overrepresented when it comes to online video, with 42% watching entire TV shows on the Web compared with 28% of non-Hispanics. Telemundo cited SIMM Survey data showing 54% of U.S. Hispanics are on Facebook and 11.4% on Twitter, compared to 43% and 4.8% of the overall population.

But a Pew Hispanic Center study released this month found U.S. Latinos overall are less likely than whites to access the Internet, have a home broadband connection or own a cell phone. Hispanics also trail African-Americans in home broadband access, but use the Internet and mobile phones at similar levels.